Killer Career (6 page)

Before she could ponder what he was doing, he started dictating.

“Is this for real? I can’t type that.” He couldn’t mean
what he’d said.

“Do it.” She felt the cold metal cylinder press against her
back.

A chill raced up and down her spine. Her usually adept fingers
slipped and made errors, which she hastily corrected.

When she was done, he nodded and swung her chair around.

“Okay, now we’ll have a little party.”

Her eyes widened.

“No, not that kind. You could never compare. Where’s the
lunchroom?”

She had no choice but to lead him down the hall to the back of the
office.

“Turn on the tap. Fill up the sink.”

That done, he marched her to the main office. “Okay, get to work.
Here’s a screwdriver. I want all the hard drives out of the
computers, then I want you to round up all the CDs, floppies, backup
drives and zips. They’re taking a bath. Then we’ll have some real
fun.”

* * *

As usual, Dino’s Restaurant was mobbed.

Dade spotted Todd’s tall frame topped by his brownish blonde hair
at the end of a waiting line that stretched down the block.

“I had a feeling it would be like this. Want to try somewhere
else,” Todd asked.

“That’s not necessary. Follow me,” Dade said.

Ignoring disapproving glares, Dade forged ahead and led Todd and
Julie to the front of the line. He slipped his name to the maitre de
and they were ushered into the restaurant.

They were led to a prime booth on the side of the room. Todd’s gray
eyes sparkled as he shot Dade a wide grin. “Why did I ever doubt
you?”

A short, black-haired man with a mustache limped over to greet them.

Dade rose to shake his hand. “Hi, Dino.”

“
Paisan
, sit down. Enjoy yourself.”

“Dino Varelli, you remember my partner, Julie McGuire, and I’d
like you to meet my buddy, Todd Lyons.”

“A pleasure. Tell me, what do you make of the place, my friend?”

“Great, Dino, just great. You did good.”

“Listen, order what you want. It’s on the house.
Salute
,”
Dino said, escaping before Dade could protest.

The waiter took their orders, then scurried back with drinks, bread
sticks and olive oil.

“Okay, give. How do you know Dino,” Todd asked.

Dade grabbed a bread stick from the basket. “He’s one of my
clients. His settlement bought this joint, but he earned every penny.
The poor guy went through hell. He’s still in pain.”

“Dino had prior injuries. It wasn’t easy to convince the
Arbitrator, but like with so many of his cases, Dade worked a
miracle.”

“What happened, Dade?”

“A generator fell on Dino’s back when he was installing a steam
pipe. He underwent four surgeries and is lucky to even walk. He’ll
never be the same.”

Todd gazed around the room, assessing the oil paintings, the pecan
paneling and bronze sconces. “Another client saved through the
auspices of the amazing Dade Donovan.”

Dade waved his hand dismissively. “It’s what I get paid for.
Anyway, that’s not why we’re here. How are you doing? Today’s
got to be tough.”

His friend nodded soberly, setting down his salad fork. “It’s no
fun. Laura’s been gone for three years now, but it may as well be
yesterday. I still have this raw feeling in here.” He tapped his
chest in the direction of his heart.

Julie placed her hand over Todd’s. “I can’t begin to imagine
what you’ve gone through, but remember we’re here for you.”

Dade nodded in agreement. Todd didn’t deserve losing his wife to a
drunken driver. It hurt to see his buddy in pain. What could he say
that hadn’t been said already, yet he had to try. “Laura was
special. It should never have happened. And the creep that hit her
should never have gotten off.”

Todd’s gray eyes turned hard. “You’re right. Nothing can bring
Laura back, but I’d give anything to wipe that jerk off the face of
the earth.”

“Not a pretty picture of our judicial system. Just one more case
where money talked and the monster walked,” Dade said.

Todd sighed. “I can’t begin to decipher why it happened to her of
all people. She meant everything to me. I’m muddling along as best
I can without her, but it’s not easy. Enough about me. What about
you two? Anything new going on?”

The guy had enough on his mind without Dade sounding off on his own
problems. He searched for a suitable topic of conversation.

Julie jumped in. “Business is great. We can barely keep up.”

“Sure. My partner’s the original Wonder Woman. On Monday, she
demolished Barabat’s defense and the rest of the week, she
bulldozed some other defense attorneys.”

Todd nodded. “Par for the course. What about you, Dade? Are you
keeping up with her?”

“I’ve won my share,” Dade said with a satisfied smile. “We’re
running neck-and-neck in the wins derby.”

“It’s been around six years, hasn’t it? Almost like a
marriage.”

“Yeah, too bad Julie’s divorcing me.”

The words slipped out before he could stop them.

“Let’s not go into that, Dade,” Julie said, shooting him a
warning look.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Todd said, glancing back and forth
between them.

Julie sighed. “All right. You may as well know. Now that I’m
financially situated, I’m leaving the firm so I can follow a
lifetime dream. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I’m going to
do it.”

“Yeah, she’s chucking everything away for a pipe dream.”

Julie glared at him.

The waiter took that moment to reappear and slide the appetizer trays
onto the white tablecloth.

Dade grabbed the closest thing, a piece of calamari, and bit into it.
“This is great stuff, lots of garlic,” he said.

Julie grabbed one also.

Todd shook his head slowly. “You were meant for each other.”

Dade frowned. “Lay off, Todd. It’s not like that.”

Todd shook his head and turned to Julie. “So, how did you come by
your decision?”

“A few weeks ago, I met Tyler Jensen at a conference. Afterward, I
got an opportunity to enroll in his workshop.”

Todd whistled. “Wow, that’s amazing. The guy’s phenomenal.”

“He’s taught me a lot about writing already.”

“Julie won’t admit it, but the guy’s hot for her. You should
see the autograph he signed.”

“You can’t still be worried about that,” Julie said.

“I’m intrigued. What did it say?”

“Something about how he’d steal my partner away. Weird.”

“What did you expect? He’s a mystery writer.”

“That’s what Julie said.”

“Dade old boy, I do believe you’re jealous.” Todd’s smile
looked smug.

“No, that’s not it. You know I’m right about my hunches. I’ve
saved Julie from some real kooks.”

“Good grief. Haven’t you played the protector long enough? Julie
can take care of herself by now.”

“I have a right to my opinions.”

“I have to admit Dade did save me from some hairy horrors. It was
sweet having a big brother look after me, but now I’m a big girl.”

Dade frowned. Big brother. That’s all she thought of him. Well,
what did he expect?

“I’m sure you’re quite capable,” Todd said with a smile.

This dinner wasn’t about dumping their problems on Todd. Dade
launched into a joke to lighten the mood. “Did you hear the one
about the baseball player and the pilot?”

The atmosphere at the table relaxed, as the conversation switched to
safer topics and they enjoyed their meal.

Finally Julie pushed back her plate. “Well, I don’t know about
you two, but I can’t eat another bite.”

“Me neither. Why don’t we call it a night,” Todd said.

Dade nodded, peeled off fifty in tens for the waiter and dropped the
bills on the table. “Okay, we’re out of here.”

On the way out, he spotted the owner again and stepped over to shake
his hand. “Thanks, Dino. Great place.”

The man beamed. “You’re always welcome,
paisan
. I couldn’t
have made it without you.”

It felt good to witness a client’s success. Despite massive
injuries, Dino had never given up.

As the valet pulled up to the curb with Todd’s Lexus, Todd turned
to Dade. “Thanks for seeing me through the night, pal. You too,
Julie.”

Dade swallowed a lump in his throat. “Any time, old buddy. That’s
what friends are for.”

Watching Todd drive away, Dade turned to Julie. “I feel bad for
him. To have it all one minute and have it swiped away, just like
that. Man, that’s got to be hard.”

She nodded. “You never know what’s around the corner. You’ve
got to live each day to the fullest. That’s what I intend to do.”

Chapter Six

Thoughts of Todd’s sad situation kept Julie from falling asleep for
a while. The peal of the telephone awakened her from a troubled
dream. Glancing at the clock radio, she frowned. Why would anyone
call at six-thirty on Saturday morning?

“Bad news, Julie,” Dade said. “The office is wrecked. The hard
drives are history. So are the CDs, DVDs, all kinds of stuff.”

She sat upright. The movement made her dizzy for a moment, but then
her head cleared. “What are you talking about?”

“They’re trashed and in the sink, sopping wet.”

“That’s strange. Well, don’t worry. Nora’s got the backups.
I’ll bring down my laptop computer and we’ll sort it out.”

“Not an option.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s screwed us. The backup tapes are in there, too, plus she
left a crazy note.”

“I can’t believe it. What does the note say?”

‘“You gave me no choice. You should have treated me better. By
the time you read this, your precious backups, along with all your
other records, will be history. Don’t look for anything at my house
either. It won’t be there. Have a blast.’”

“I don’t believe this,” Julie whispered. “All that hard work.
It can’t be destroyed, just like that.”

It was no consolation that her wariness of Dade’s assistant had
been justified. For once Julie wished she’d been wrong.

“Dade, what about your laptop? You’ve got lots of data on there.
She didn’t get that too, did she?”

His disgusted sigh told her the answer. “Thinking I’d come in
early today, I left the damn thing at the office. It was locked, but
that didn’t do any good. I found the computer in the toilet. Damn,
she must have been at her devil-work all night.”

“What about the Anderson brief? Isn’t it due Monday? We can’t
let Sheila down.”

Dade had been slaving over the contested case for months. Without
proper representation, Sheila Anderson wouldn’t stand a chance.

Slipping out of her nightshirt, Julie rushed to the closet. “Listen,
I’ll be right over. Thank God, I’ve got my laptop here. I cleaned
some of the extra files out of it last week, but it’s got the
forms, plus some of my proposed decisions. I’m sure there’s other
odds and ends you can use. We’ll manage.”

Jensen’s class flew out of her mind, along with Dade’s prior cold
treatment of her, as driving to the Loop, she cursed the bottleneck
on the expressway. She’d rather ride in comfort on the train, but
she had a feeling by the time Nora’s mess was straightened out,
there wouldn’t be any trains running. Dade had worked extra hard on
the Anderson case. She couldn’t let his efforts go to waste.

She’d like to strangle Nora.

* * *

When Julie reached the office, Dade stood in front of her at the
door, balancing two large plastic bags. She juggled her laptop, a
grocery bag and her purse.

Without speaking, they headed into his office. The bag rattled, as
with a clatter, Dade unloaded five cardboard boxes onto the desk.

“New hard drives,” he said. “I got them at CDW as soon as it
opened.”

He reached into the bottom desk drawer. “At least the bitch missed
the tool kit,” he said. “Also, thank God, I brought the Anderson
file home with me last night or that, too, would be history.”

Julie rummaged in her bag. “I’ve got my tool kit, too. Also, some
program discs and extra CDs. We’ll get this sorted out yet,
partner.”

“Damn, I wish I had that laptop. I should have taken it home with
me.”

“There’s no way you could have predicted this. Do you want to get
started on my computer?”

“No, that’s only a temporary fix. My brief’s not the only thing
to get ready. The rest of the office has to be in working order or
we’ll have bedlam.”

“You’re right. An ordinary Monday’s bad enough without this
kind of chaos.”

The buzzer rang by the front door. Dade sighed. “That’s got to be
the cops. I’ll let them in.”

Two gray haired officers appeared. One pulled out plastic gloves for
picking up items. It took forty minutes for them to inspect the
damage and write a report.

“I’ll take this with, if you don’t mind,” the one said. He
pocketed the note in a plastic bag.

Dade nodded. “Be my guest.”

“We’ll mosey on over to this little lady’s place and see what
she has to say for herself. Don’t you be talking to her in the
meantime.”

Dade grimaced. “No problem there. We have enough to occupy our
time.”

After the officers had left, Julie and Dade retired to his office to
begin their task. He lifted a hard drive out of the top box and held
it up. “Have you ever installed one of these babies?”

“No, but my fingers are smaller, so I’ll give it a try. You read
the instructions.”

He spread the paper and read aloud, as Julie, tiny screwdriver in
hand, tackled the installation. The inner workings of the computer
were so compact, she had to be extremely careful not to destroy
anything on the mainframe and make matters worse.

After an hour of concerted effort, she said, “Okay, one’s done.
Let’s try it.”

The machine started, but they had more work ahead of them before the
hard drive could perform. Julie handed over her restore disc, which
Dade inserted into the CD drive. Another hour later, the programs
which had originally been loaded on Dade’s computer were installed
and the familiar Windows logo and icons appeared. She shifted her
weight as they waited for the printer drivers to finish installing.